


Underneath the Moors

by theriveroflight



Category: Warriors - Erin Hunter
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-25
Updated: 2019-06-25
Packaged: 2020-05-19 17:45:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19361638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theriveroflight/pseuds/theriveroflight
Summary: They knew it was stupid to sneak out of camp, illegal and against the warrior code.Or: A time after the tunnels are shut down and not allowed to be used, some kits go exploring, and they find more than just dirt.





	Underneath the Moors

**Author's Note:**

> I got this idea while working on jotkor (yes, I’m working on jotkor, shut up). They might have collapsed some of the tunnels and integrated the tunnelers, but there’s still the animals, the rabbits digging their burrows back out. Here’s something that may have happened. Takes place sometime after WindClan’s return in TPB. Alternate universe tagged bc we don't really see Gorsepaw's siblings, so it can be assumed that they died young/were stillborn/something else.
> 
> Featuring: Gorsekit (paw) and his siblings, as well as a surprise guest.

Storkkit’s the one that proposes it. “Let’s go out of camp!”

They’re playing in the nursery, their mother is out on a walk. There’s no better time - and there aren’t many warriors, it’s relatively early and warriors are still out on dawn patrol. No one’s really around to watch them except themselves and the elders, who are all sunning themselves and aren’t paying attention to them.

They sneak behind the nursery, poke a hole in the gorse with their downy-soft pelts and tails, heading out of the camp, falling into a hole that isn’t covered so well, but isn’t really visible if you aren’t looking for it. It smelled of rabbit around them, but there were no rabbits to be found - and the scent was stale.

Gorsekit isn’t sure that it’s right, but he follows his siblings into the tunnel, down into the cool earth.

It’s practically a whole other world. They spend what feels like a long time wandering, steering away from the passages that scent of badger or fox - because Gorsekit isn’t that mousebrained, and he hopes his littermates aren’t, either.

They don’t have any concept of time, don’t know that their Clanmates are searching - don’t know that their Clanmates don’t know about the tunnels. They just wander, and hope to find their way out.

A cat appears with starshine in her pelt, a gray cat that carries herself with pride. She flickers in and out, almost as though this is a place where StarClan has trouble appearing.

“You’ve wandered far from home, kits. You should go home, your Clan is searching all over the moors for you. No one has braved the tunnels yet, hardly anyone knows they exist anymore.”

“Who  _ are  _ you?” Quailkit asks, wonder in her voice.

“My name is Heatherstar, and though I do not know the tunnels as well, I will guide you home. Follow me.” The StarClan cat pads over to the other side. Gorsekit tracks her with his gaze in disbelief.

He stands up and follows her, through the snaking tunnels - not going back the way they came. There’s no light besides the stars glittering on Heatherstar’s pelt. 

They grow closer to the scent of a fox. “Oh no,” he hears Heatherstar breathe. “I didn’t know this route was occupied. I don’t know if I can fight…”

Then louder, she shouts for them to run, that she’ll distract the fox if need be.

The fox can see her, and the plan works. The sky opens, and it’s still daytime. All three of them are wide-eyed and shell-shocked, and Heatherstar is gone.

They skitter back to the camp, running into Tallstar himself.

“You’re in a lot of trouble,” he tells them, and then holds up his long tail to signal that he found them.

“We know,” Gorsekit says. He won’t implicate Storkkit in all this. He could have stopped this at any time, but he didn’t. He just let it happen. He’s complicit, and he’s just as guilty.

“Who came up with the idea?”

“It was a joint idea,” Quailkit said. “It was all of us.” Tallstar seems skeptical, but accepts their words nonetheless.

They walk back to camp dejected, spirits low, tails dragging against the ground.

* * *

 

That night, he stares up at the stars.

He thanks StarClan for sending Heatherstar - and thanks Heatherstar for saving them, for choosing to protect her Clan even in death.

Gorsekit likes to think that the stars whisper something to him, even though the night is silent. That, perhaps, they really do serve the Clans. That, even after the temporary loss of their Clan, StarClan still wants them on the moors.

He goes back into the nursery, slipping back into his place in the nest.

He still can’t really sleep, though, his restless mind churning on and on about the what-ifs and the could-have beens.

**Author's Note:**

> I had fun writing this short drabble!
> 
> Have a great day/night/wherever you are.


End file.
